Sundance 2012: National Geographic Channel Nabs Doc 'Chasing Ice'

National Geographic Channel has purchased television rights for climate change documentary Chasing Ice. NGC acquired the film from Exposure LLC, a production company that focuses on socially-relevant filmmaking.

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The U.S. Documentary Competition film premiered Monday at the Library Center Theatre.

The film follows photographer James Balog as he works on the Extreme Ice Survey, a photography project that used time-lapse cameras to capture evidence of Earth's melting ice.

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Josh Braun and David Koh of Submarine, and Wilder Knight and Anne Atkinson of Pryor Cashman LLP represented the filmmakers in the sale; NGC was represented in-house by Lisa Truitt.

Chasing Ice was produced by Jeff Orlowski, Paula DuPre’ Pesmen, and Jerry Aronson.

Magnolia Pictures picked up North American rights to the horror film V/H/S for north of $1 million early Thursday morning. On Wednesday, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions and Samuel Goldwyn Films grabbed North American rights to Robot & Frank for slightly more than $2 million; IFC Films purchased North American rights to Josh Radnor's Liberal Arts for seven figures; and Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions closed a deal to pick up U.S. rights to Arbitrage for a day-and-date theatrical-VOD release, much as they did for the 2011 Sundance thriller Margin Call. The sale price was just north of $2 million. 

Other recent sales include Red Lights to Millennium Entertainment (U.S. rights, just under $4 million); Celeste and Jesse Forever to Sony Pictures Classics (North American, Latin American, Eastern European rights, around $2 million); For a Good Time, Call… to Focus Features (worldwide rights, $2 million); and Beasts of the Southern Wild to Fox Searchlight, which also grabbed worldwide rights to The Surrogate for just under $6 million Monday.

Sunday, LD Distribution picked up the thriller Black Rock for just over $1 million, and CBS Films acquired the drama The Words for a combined deal valued at $3.5 million. Competition documentaries Searching For Sugar Man and The Queen of Versailles found homes at SPC and Magnolia Pictures, respectively, on Friday.

Email: Daniel.Miller@THR.com; Jay.Fernandez@THR.com

Twitter: @DanielNMiller; @Writer730